2 men guilty in checkpoint obstruction

ESCONDIDO  Two men who were arrested last February after refusing to cooperate with Escondido police officers at a DUI checkpoint have been found guilty of obstructing a peace officer.

Judge Michael Kirkman found Angel Navarette and Daniel Alfaro, both of Escondido, guilty Wednesday after a 2 1/2-day nonjury trial in Vista Superior Court. For the misdemeanor conviction, Navarette and Alfaro were sentenced to three years of summary probation and 40 hours of volunteer work, and they were ordered to not break any laws and to cooperate with lawful orders, Deputy District Attorney Karl Husoe said.

On Feb. 11, 2011, Navarette, the driver, and Alfaro, his passenger, turned on a video camera and pulled into an Escondido police sobriety checkpoint near Juniper Street and Valley Parkway. An officer approached their car in the checkpoint line and asked Navarette to roll down his window, which was open about an inch, police said. Navarette said he could hear the officer “just fine,” and the officer told him again to open the window or police would have to break it. The officer warned the driver that he was delaying police at the checkpoint and would be detained.

Another officer approached and told Navarette that he needed to see his license and registration for the checkpoint. Ultimately, officers used a device to break the window glass, and they removed Navarette. Alfaro struggled when officers attempted to take the video camera as evidence, police said.

Both men were arrested. A 6 1/2-minute video recorded by the men and posted on the Internet shows the checkpoint incident.

Attorney Victor Torres, who represents Navarette, said he and Alfaro’s lawyer plan to appeal the conviction.

“The judge found that basically you have to submit to whatever police tell you to do at a checkpoint, and we disagree,” Torres said. “We feel there are Fourth Amendment rights that police have to adhere to, and we’re going to keep fighting.”

According to the District Attorney’s Office, 687 people were charged with violating penal code 148(a)(1) — willfully delaying, resisting or obstructing a peace officer — from January 2010 through December 2011 in North County, excluding Poway. Four cases so far have proceeded to jury trials, with three guilty and one not-guilty verdicts. The vast majority of the cases are settled with a misdemeanor plea of guilty, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Escondido sobriety and driver’s license checkpoints have been a target of activists who say the stops are used to catch illegal immigrants.